Page 67 of Crashing into Love

“I think we’ll get you into the gym today, then, and work on that. If it’s still bugging you, though, we’ll talk about some other options, and we’ll work on how we wrap it up for you, too, in order to make sure it’s comfortable and flexible out there but still supporting in the right places. It doesn’t look swollen anywhere, so can you point out where it’s hurting now?”

“It’s just an ache on the inside.” Drew dragged her index finger on the inside of her kneecap from the bottom to the top.

“And is it all the time or only at certain times?” He began feeling around as if that would point out where the problem was when X-rays and MRIs hadn’t yet.

“It’s pretty much all the time unless it’s elevated, but it’s really small. Like, it just keeps reminding me that I hurt my knee once because it wants me to remember or something.”

He laughed a little at that and said, “Yeah, sounds about right. I’ll talk to the doc, too, so that we’re all working together. For now, let’s get you in the gym, working on your quads. We’ll keep it easy and light today; just muscle-building but not too many reps and nothing too heavy. If the pain gets worse, you tell me, and we stop immediately. If you feel anything sharp, you stop and tell me. Deal?”

“Yeah, no problem,” she said.

“I’ll get with the doc after, and we’ll come up with a plan while you’re back in your room icing this. I’ll send you over the plan tonight, okay?”

“Can I practice tomorrow?”

“We’ll see, but… probably. If the tests aren’t showing anything, it’s not swollen anywhere, and you’re able to move around fine, I don’t see why not. Sometimes, when we get hurt, we get used to protecting the injury. It’s a brain thing. It doesn’t want us to feel pain, so it tells us to avoid it, which is a good thing, generally – it’s our fight or flight. But, sometimes, our brains keep telling us to continue to protect the injury even after it’s healed, so you might still be walking in a different way or not be on the board the same way you used to be when your knee was good. As a result, now, it’s hurting your knee that you keep trying to protect it.” The guy chuckled again as if that was funny somehow, which it wasn’t to Drew. “We’ll take a look at everything just in case, so I’ll watch you walk in the gym first to see if maybe you’re overcorrecting. Let’s go now and get you back on track.”

Drew already thought she was back on track. She’d won the event here and had been boarding well. Today, though, her knee had started to ache. It had been a pulsing pain at first, but then it had stopped on her third time down the track and turned into a solid ache. She could handle the pain no problem, but she’d been worried that she’d done something to damage it again, and if that was the case, Drew didn’t want to wait too long to get it fixed. If it was scar tissue again, the sooner she knew that and found out if it had to be removed, the better so that she could have more time to recover before final selection for the Olympic Team.

She was in the training camp right now, and this was where the coaches and staff evaluated everyone who wanted to be on that final team more closely than they could by traveling to the events that weren’t for national teams. Drew knew that Selma’s own camp started tomorrow, and she should be checking into her room tonight. They’d decided that Selma would text her once she was in and had already talked to Gia to let Drew know when it was a good time to call. They’d done the same last night when Drew had texted Selma to tell her that she’d gotten settled and could talk. Then, they’d talked for an hour before Selma needed to get Gia to bed.

Drew missed them. Both of them. She’d gotten a quick chance to say goodnight to Gia on the phone last night, but Selma didn’t want them to talk long because Gia needed to go to sleep, and Selma still needed to pack. Drew was still surprised at how much she always looked forward to talking to a nine-year-old kid. Gia said funny things at times that gave Drew that kind of belly laugh that just got her by when things weren’t all that great. Plus, Gia reminded Drew so much of Selma. Their facial expressions were nearly identical. So was their body language. They even crossed their arms over their chests and stuck out their feet the same way. Drew thought of her own mother and wondered if they did something like that the same way. She couldn’t think of anything, but it was hard to see it herself, probably. Maybe if Selma met her mom one day, she could tell Drew what it was, if anything.

Great, now she was thinking about Selma Driscoll meeting her mother. The only time that would ever happen was if her mom was at the finish line of a race, waiting for Drew, and Selma was in the same race or otherwise waiting for Drew there, too. She’d meet her mother as a friend or as a fellow boarder, and that would be that.

“You don’t have time for this,” she muttered to herself as she raised her legs, trying to focus her mind on her knee and the weights it was lifting and not on the idea of Selma meeting her mother and how Drew would stand at her side with an arm around her, maybe pulling her in closer, or even giving her a kiss after a win. “Nope. Stop it.”

“Everything okay, Drew?” the trainer asked as he reviewed something on his tablet.

“Yup. All good,” she answered. “No new pain or anything.”

“Okay. Do one more set for me. Then, we’ll move on.”

“You got it,” she confirmed and forced her mind to remain focused on the whole reason she was here.

???

“FaceTime, huh?” Drew asked later that night when she was lying on her side in her bed.

“Is it not okay? I can call back.”

“No, it’s fine. I like seeing your face,” she replied with a smile that she quickly removed from her own face and pretended like it had never been there at all.

Selma was sitting up in her own bed, and she was eating something. She must have had her phone resting on something next to her. Selma went to put the fork in her mouth, paused, but didn’t look at the screen. Then, she ate whatever it was and seemed to also pretend that Drew hadn’t said what she’d just said. That was interesting.

“I… like seeing your face, too.”

Okay. So, she hadn’t been pretending. She’d just needed a minute to think about her reply. Selma looked over at Drew then and gave her a small smile, which Drew returned.

“It’s an all-right face, I guess,” Drew played off.

Selma rolled her eyes at her and said, “I’m not going to give you another compliment. That head of yours would grow, like, six sizes and wouldn’t fit through the door.”

“What are you eating?”

“Not chocolate cake, unfortunately. It’s just grilled chicken. I got in later than I thought. I ordered and talked to Gia and my grandma, but I know it’s late, so I didn’t want to make you wait until I was done eating.”

“Ah. Flavorless grilled chicken; dinner of champions.”

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